


Tatterdemalion

by Flipkat



Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms
Genre: Fairy Tales, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-02
Updated: 2012-11-02
Packaged: 2017-11-17 13:52:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flipkat/pseuds/Flipkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A traditional fairy tale featuring a proactive Cinderella, a family torn apart and reunited, and two delicious bowls of soup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tatterdemalion

Once upon a time, there was a king who had three lovely daughters, whom he loved more than anything in the world. One day he called them all before him and asked, “Now tell me, my dears, how well do you love me?”  
The first said, “Father, I love you more than all the gold and silver in the kingdom.”  
And the second said, “Father, I love you more than all my pretty dresses and jewelry.”  
But the third said “Dear father, I love you more than salt.”  
At this the king flew into a rage. “What? Your love for me, you liken to something so common as salt?!” And he sent her away.

Sadly, she went to her room, where she packed her three loveliest dresses: a dress as silver as the moon, a dress as golden as the sun, and a dress as shining as the stars. That night, when the castle was quiet, she donned a ragged, tattered cloak and slipped away, taking her dresses and some food in an old, battered sack, with no one the wiser. She walked for many days until she came to the next kingdom, where she presented herself at the palace kitchen, and asked for work.

“Very well,” said the head cook, “Show me what you can do.” And straightaway, she had cooked up the most wonderful soup any of them had ever smelled! The head cook hired her at once, and gave her a room in the attic above the kitchen. The other cooks soon took to chattering about the new arrival, for she would never take off her cloak, nor tell anyone even the slightest detail about herself, not even her name. And so they took to calling her Tatterdemalion, for the rags she wore.

Now it happened that this kingdom had a prince who wished to be married. A grand ball was arranged at the palace, with three nights of dancing, and all the noble young women in the kingdom were invited to attend. On the first night of the ball, as the food for the guests was being laid out, Tatterdemalion slipped up to her room in the attic, doffed her cloak and donned the dress as silver as the moon, and her cloak over it. She slipped back down by the servants’ way to the hallway near the ballroom, where she doffed her cloak and hid it in an alcove, and then slipped inside to join the guests.

Oh, when the prince caught sight of her in that dress, he had eyes for no one else! They danced every dance together, and the prince grew fonder and fonder of her as the night wore on, for she charmed him with her courtly manners, although she would not give him her name. But after the last dance, when he would have begged her to stay, she dropped him a curtsey, and slipped away into the crowd, too fast for him to follow, and from there to the servants’ passage again, with no one the wiser. There, she donned her cloak and slipped up to her room again, where she doffed her cloak and dress and fell into bed exhausted.

The next morning, the prince asked all the nobles of the court, “Who was that charming young woman I danced with last night?” But none of them could answer him, for none had seen her enter, and none had seen her leave, and no one knew who she was or where she had come from.

On the second night of the ball, Tatterdemalion again slipped up to her room as the guests were arriving, doffed her cloak, and this time donned the dress as golden as the sun, hiding it under her cloak as before. She slipped to the ballroom by the servant’s passage again, leaving her cloak in an alcove before she arrived. She joined the guests and this time, when the prince caught sight of her, he was entranced! They danced every dance together, and the prince fell more and more in love with her grace and her wit. Then at the end of the last dance, she curtseyed to him, and slipped away into the crowd. She retrieved her cloak, slipped up to her room, doffed both cloak and dress, and fell into bed exhausted.

The next morning, the prince asked the servants in the palace, “Who was the lovely young woman I danced with last night? But they could not answer him either, for none had seen her enter, and none had seen her leave, and they had grown so used to seeing her in her cloak that they did not recognize her without it!

On the final night of the ball, Tatterdemalion was kept busy in the kitchen until after the ball had begun; she quickly slipped up to her room, doffed her cloak, donned her dress as shining as the stars and the cloak over it, and slipped down to the ballroom, hiding her cloak along the way. The servants that the prince had set to watch for her had grown restless, thinking she was not coming, and so once again, no one saw her enter. The prince, who had refused to dance with anyone else in her absence, suddenly caught sight of her, and rushed to greet her. Once more, they danced every dance together, and the prince began to feel he could not live without her. At the end of the last dance, he took off his ring and gave it to her as a pledge of his love. But Tatterdemalion dropped the ring, and as it began to roll off, she ran after it. The prince shouted; servants quickly surrounded him, and in the commotion, she slipped away, donned her cloak again, and slipped up to her room, where she doffed her cloak and fell into bed exhausted.

The next morning, the palace was in an uproar. No one had seen the prince’s dancing partner leave, not even the guards outside, and nearly the whole palace had been searched for the young woman, but no trace of her was to be found! When Tatterdemalion donned her cloak and descended to the kitchen, she heard that the prince had shut himself in his rooms in despair, and was refusing to eat. “I’ll soon fix that,” she said, and in a trice, she had cooked up the most wonderful soup that anyone had ever smelled. As she spooned it into a bowl, she slipped in the ring the prince had given her, then handed the tray to one of the footmen. “Take that to the prince, and see what he makes of it.”

When the prince smelled the soup, he could not help tasting it, and he had soon devoured half the bowl, when he heard a strange clink! And what did he find in the spoon but his very own ring! He called for his footman: “I must see the person who made this soup! Take me to her at once!” Soon he stood before Tatterdemalion in the kitchen, and demanded, “Where did you get this ring? Who gave it to you?”  
“Why you yourself did, Your Highness!” And so saying, she doffed her cloak, and there shone the dress as shining as the stars for all to see. The prince was overjoyed, and their wedding was arranged with due haste.

Now it happened that the king of the neighboring kingdom was invited to the wedding. He had spent many sleepless nights worrying for his youngest daughter since she had left. When she heard he would be a guest at the banquet, she instructed the cooks to prepare his food without any salt. When he tasted it, he exclaimed, “Oh, daughter, now I understand your words! Without salt, food is as tasteless and dull as my life has become without you!” Upon hearing these words, the princess came out of hiding and embraced him. So all were happily reunited, and all lived happily ever after.

The End.


End file.
